What is a Church? Introduction

By Mark D. Roberts

Part 1 of series: What is a Church? Biblical Basics for Christian Community

"What is a church?" Now that seems like a easy question, the sort of question one might answer in an simple sentence or two. "A church is a building in which Christians meet for worship," is one obvious possibility. "A church is a group of Christians who gather for religious purposes" is another. These sentences aren't bad for quick answers, but they don't take us very far if we want to understand truly what a church ought to be.

You'll notice that I moved from the descriptive – what a church is – to the evaluative – what a church ought to be. This wasn't accidental on my part. In this series on the church I'm not so much interested in what churches actually are, or in what people think churches are, as I am in what churches should be. When I ask "What is a church?" I'm wondering about the ideal rather than actual.

My subtitle reveals the perspective from which I intend to address this question. I plan to discuss the nature of the church from a biblical perspective. That's the sort of thing that evangelical Protestants like me tend to do, so I expect this is no surprise. I believe that Bible is God's inspired Word, and therefore is to be our chief guide both for faith and life. In my opinion, nothing in this world tells us more authoritatively what the church ought to be than Christian Scripture.

Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox believers would agree with me up to a point. They affirm the authority of Scripture as God's Word. But they add the parallel authority of tradition, especially as embodied in the creeds and historic teachings of the church, and in the bishops who guard and pass on this tradition. I believe that Christian tradition ought to be taken very seriously. We Christians have much to learn from our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and who have sought to understand and to be the church. But, ultimately, I'm convinced we should weigh their convictions and practices in light of biblical teaching. For me as for millions of Protestants across the globe, Scripture trumps church tradition though without denying the value of tradition.

I also think it's important to pay close attention to how Christians throughout the world interpret Scripture when it comes to the nature of the church. We all tend to read the Bible in light of our own cultures. We all project our meanings and values into the text. Careful interpretation of Scripture can help us see what is really there and not be tricked into thinking our projections are God's revealed Word. But even then we can't escape completely from our own worldviews and biases. Listening to what Christians from other cultures hear the Bible saying (and not saying) can help us interpret Scripture more accurately. But, even then, I believe Scripture stands authoritatively above the experience of all Christians. It's always possible to say, "I see how you understand this text, but I believe your reading isn't quite right." Of course someone who disagrees with my experience might very well say the same thing.

At this point I won't go on and on talking about the interpretation of Scripture. I mostly want to clarify "where I'm coming from" in this series, as we'd say in California. My main starting points are these:

1. Though I take seriously both Christian tradition and the experience of contemporary Christians throughout the world, I believe Scripture has the final word when it comes to matters of faith and practice, including the question of what a church should be. Therefore, the best way to discover what a church should be is by a careful study of Scripture.

2. One way we can get to the true meaning of the biblical text is by reading it in light of its own cultural setting. If we want to understand the writings of the Apostle Paul, for example, we would do well to see them in light of his Greco-Roman-Jewish world. Doing this will help us avoid projecting our meanings and biases into the text.

If you've done some reading in theology, you'll recognize that I'm going to address questions of ecclesiology (from the Greek words ekklesia, meaning "assembly, church" and logos meaning "thought, word, principle"). I'm not planning to engage in a technical conversation, however, one suitable only for theologians. Rather, I want to write for the ordinary reader, especially the average Christian who wonders "What is a church, really?"

Note: If you're looking for a more theologically-oriented approach to the church than I will offer here, but one that is suitable for well-educated lay readers, I highly recommend It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives, by Tod Bolsinger. This award-winning book explains the nature of the church in light of the triune character of God, with lots of compelling illustrations and practical implications.

Before we launch our investigation into biblical texts that reveal the nature of the church, I want to explain why I'm doing this series at this time. I'll take this on in tomorrow's post.